The present invention relates, in general, to four-barrelled pistols which comprise a hammer or striking means with a rotating click-action head for successively acting on firing pins corresponding to the four barrels. Particularly, it relates to a tripping mechanism which controls the hammer of the pistol, so as to allow either a single or a double action of firing.
Pistols are already known with four fixed barrels which are capable of four firings, one for each barrel. Generally, these weapons comprise a hammer or striking means having a rotating, click-action head that successively positions itself and acts on the firing pins of the the four barrels. These pistols also comprise a tripping mechanism for the control of the hammers, when the trigger is actuated.
To place itself in the required position, the rotating head of the hammer is provided peripherically with notches, within which a rotation lever is engaged each time the hammer is displaced into a cocked position. In this manner, the head comes to act each time on the firing pin corresponding to the barrel within which the shell or cartridge is placed.
The four-barrelled pistols of the prior art, however, have a tripping mechanism which does not permit the weapon to operate in both single and double action, as is the case with pistols having a single barrel.
Incidentally, control of a single action in known pistols is obtained when the hammer, after a manual displacement to a cocked position, is engaged by acting on the trigger through a single traction action. The control for a double action, instead, is achieved by acting on the trigger both for the cocked phase and for the disengaged phase of the hammer. In fact, by means of a first and initial displacement of the trigger one obtains, through the employment of a connecting rod, the rotation of the hammer until the cocked position is reached or until the end of the rotation is reached; then, in immediate succession, and by virtue of the final displacement of the trigger, follows the disengagement of the hammer for the striking action.
The four-barrelled pistols of the prior art are, therefore, not suitable for effecting both operations mentioned above, because they are not designed to operate in both action, but either only in single action or only in double action.